Base-board.



No. 79?,407. PATENTED AUG. 15, 1905. A. W COX.

BASE BOARD.

APYLIOATION FILED MAR.7,1905.

ALBERT WV. COX, OF CHICAGO, ILLINOIS.

BASE BOARU.

Specification of Letters Patent.

Patented Aug. 15, 1905.

Application filed March 7, 1905. Serial No. 248,884.

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, ALBERT W. Cox, a citizen of the United States, residing at Chicago, in the county of Cook and State of Illinois, have invented new and useful Improvements in Base-Boards, of which the following is a specification.

The object of my invention is to provide an improved base-board for walls of houses, which may be readily and easily adjusted, so as to close any opening between the base of the wall and floor created by shrinkage of the joists or settling of the floor-supports, thereby enabling a close and tight joint to be al ways maintained for the exclusion of vermin, which would otherwise lind a refuge within such opening.

Another object is to accomplish this result in the simplest and most inexpensive manner.

It consists in certain details of construction and arrangement of parts hereinafter more fully described in the specification and illus-' trated in the accompanying drawings, in which Figure 1 is a front or face view of a section of my improved base-board, showing a subbase or strip of molding secured to its lower front edge by clamping or set screws. Fig. 2 is a similar View with the strip or molding removed and showing vertical grooves or slots extending at right angles with the line of the main base-board from its lower edge. Fig. 3 is a bottom View, partly in perspective, with the subbase or strip secured in place.

A is the main base-board constructed in the ordinary manner, but provided with the vertical grooves or slots (0 a, extending from its edge a suitable distance.

B is the strip or subbase secured to the main base-board by the screws I) b. These screws are of the ordinary kind, having a tapering point, but of a greater diameter than the width of the vertical slots a, so that their threads will engage the sides of the slots a a when the screws are projected through the face of strip B into said slots, thereby adjustably securing said face-strip to the baseboard A.

It will be perceived that by slotting the main base-board and projecting the screws therein the force of starting and driving the screws is greatly lessened and the point of adjustment easily ascertained and accomplished.

I usually provide the lower edge of the subbase 13 and the meeting joints with strips of some yielding or vermin-destroying material to more effectually close the openings and exclude the vermin.

The slots (0 being engaged by the threads merely of the screws enable the screws to be inserted readily at any point in the length of the slot and so permit a finer adjustment of the position of the subbase-board than could be secured by a series of perforations, while being for practical purposes sufficiently ciiicient for holding the subbase-board securely to the base-board, and the tapering points of the screws permit the subbase-board to be adiusted without fully withdrawing the screws from the main base-board, it being suflicient to back the screws out until their pointed ends only remain in the slots, when the subbaseboard may be brought into close engagement with the floor and the screws again fully driven in. As only the threads of the screws engage the slot, it is much easier to drive in the screws in any position of the baseboard than it would be to drive the screws into solid wood, particularly if the main base-board be of hard wood. I thus by a simple and cheap expedient aiford a capability of fine adjust ment, lessen the trouble and time necessary to release and resecure the subbase-board, and afford a sufli'cient means for securing the subbase-board in place, avoiding the necessity for providing in advance a series of holes for different positions of the screws, which would not allow fine adjustment, and the difiiculty of boring new holes for the desired ad' justment if the holes are not provided in ad- Vance, as well as avoiding the necessity in either such case of fully withdrawing the screws for adjustment of the subbase-board.

The simplicity of my invention enables it to be easily understood and constructed by any ordinary mechanic at the minimum expense.

Having thus described my invention, what I claim, and desire to secure by Letters Patent,

A base-board comprising an inner board provided with vertical slots extending from its lower edge, a subbase-board laid against the main and inner board, and clamping screws whose threads are of larger diameter than the Width of the said slots projected through the subbase-board and into the slots of the main base-board, and having pointed ends which may remain in engagement With the slots When the screws are partially retracted in order to permit shifting of the subbase-board, substantially as described.

In testimony whereof I have signed my name to this specification in the presence of tWo subscribing Witnesses.

ALBERT WV. COX.

Witnesses:

HUGH GOODWIN, JOHN L. MANNING. 

